


Terms and Conditions

by XzadionOmega



Category: Compilation of Final Fantasy VII
Genre: Gen, Tsviets, Tsviets Live
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-03
Updated: 2016-02-03
Packaged: 2018-05-18 00:03:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,419
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5890297
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/XzadionOmega/pseuds/XzadionOmega
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"I am not the one in charge here, and I despise that."</p>
            </blockquote>





	Terms and Conditions

**Author's Note:**

> Possibly a companion for the Capturing Moods series, but you don't have to think about it that way. Just assume they're alive.

The Healin Lodge is extremely susceptible to attack. I doubt the walls are even reinforced. There is only one lock on any given door, and none of them are activated by keycards. Despite having been through at least four rooms, there have been no weapon racks, no gun racks, and no caches of materia. I would laugh at the defenselessness, but two things stay me. The first is that, since being pulled from the sea, my whole body has been wracked with pain that make every action a chore. The second is that this must be a sign of luxury. The lack of defenses are like Rosso’s exposing her navel with her uniform; she was too dangerous to stop, and this place might be too dangerous to attack.

I am not the one in charge here, and I despise that. I have never liked that feeling of sitting an inch lower than someone looking over a thick folder of papers that have every dirty secret of mine typed across pre-lined paper and inscribed with a signature and date. If someone has my record in front of them, they know more about me than I know about them.

“You’ve been a busy man, Weiss.”

I get the feeling that Rufus Shinra is what I might have been if I had been born above ground. Powerful, making his subordinates scatter like lab rats in a Researcher’s shadow. I sit across his glass desk from him while he reads over my file. While staring him down, I wonder if I could take him in a fight. If I had to fight him with those Turks of his, I would lose right now. But alone, Rufus Shinra would be an easy fight. I think Rufus Shinra has spent his whole life behind a desk just like this one, looking at paperwork written in subordinates’ blood. Impressive, but sort of boring too. I almost feel bad for him.

“You made your first kill at seven-years of age and went on to kill nearly 600 people. You led your first mission at twelve… Over 700 missions total, all completed to the satisfaction of your superiors.” Rufus Shinra changes papers and that perfectly smooth brow gets a furrow to it. “Looks like you had some discipline problems, regarding your brother’s treatment.”

I never got into a fight for myself. I never needed to defend myself, even as a teenager. Nero never really _needed_ me to jump to his defense. I still did it, though, and I would do it again. And I refuse to let Rufus Shinra chastise me for that.

“Aside from some discipline problems, you’re a perfect soldier.” He looks up at me. He doesn’t smile, but his tone is one of proper reverence. “You’ve earned that ‘Immaculate’ title.”

I meet his gaze, stare for stare. “I know that already.”

“Good.” After a pause, his lips straighten into a grim line. “You’ve killed more people than anyone on my payroll ever did.”

“Have I killed more people than you?”

Rufus Shinra shakes his head. “This isn’t a contest.”

Actually, it is. I keep that to myself—it feels childish to assert that to him—but it’s absolutely true. It’s a contest I just won.

Rufus folds his hands under his chin, sizing me up. “Are you proud of this?”

Stupid question.

“I am. You said yourself that I’ve earned the right to be called ‘The Immaculate.’ I am perfection, and I killed a lot of people to earn that.”

“This is not a record to be proud of.” Rufus Shinra flips the folder shut and taps it with one clean fingertip. “You and those… _people_ you were commanding…” As if he had to think about it, trying to deem us worthy of being merely human. “You may be an ideal soldier, but that doesn’t make you perfect. It makes you a monster.”

Too many people have called Nero a monster for me to take that. I slam my hand on the arm of the chair and the world swims before my eyes as I stand up. Bracing my arms on the edge of his desk, I bark into his face: “I am the most powerful human being in this world!”

Rufus Shinra stays still as a stone, not flinching at all. He lifts those dark blue eyes up to me and replies, “Not anymore. Stripped of your mako and all your power, you can barely stand.” Rufus Shinra looks at my shaking arms and nods his head back at the chair. “I didn’t bring you here so that you could fight with me. Sit down, or Tseng will come in and _make you_ sit down.”

Right now, every part of my body wants to sleep, but I have enough in me to take Rufus Shinra in a fight. One of his Turks, though? Definitely not. Still eyeing him, I sit back in the chair.

“Good,” he intones. “You know how to pick your battles. You’ll make an outstanding soldier.”

“I’m already a soldier. A _perfect_ one.”

“Not under my employ.”

“You would… _Employ_ me?”

“Certainly.” Rufus Shinra spreads his hands over my folder on his desk. “You’re an investment, Weiss. The DeepGround program was never my idea, but you were successful investment, by anyone’s standards. I’m not about to waste all that time, money, and technology by simply killing you.” He shakes his head and keeps talking. “No, we’ll detoxify you and then you’ll work for us.”

_Work for him_? I laugh. I have to laugh. I gasp for air and clutch at my stomach. “I _killed_ the last man who thought I did his bidding.”

“The incident with the Restrictors showed a lot of your strengths; the ability to collaborate among your people, the strength and cunning to outwit the virus and your predecessors, patience.” Rufus hums with approval. “Yes, you’ll make an excellent employee here.”

“Why would I do that?”

“This is a mutually beneficial relationship, something that I don’t think you’ve experienced with the Restrictors. You’re not a stupid man, just an impulsive one. You’ll have the security of financial backing, comrades in the form of my Turks, and—this is important—” He pauses, as if anything he could say to me right now would seal the deal. “—Access to the resources to find your brother.”

My chest cavity feels like Rufus Shinra landed a punch to it. My brother was supposed to be with me, forever. Now, he’s lost somewhere. He’s too good for death and, if I made it, he made it. That’s a fact.

“You’ll help me find him?”

“I will give you what you need to find your brother, money and access to various databases.”

“I can access your databases remotely with the right terminal. I don’t need to work for you for that.”

“We’re in the process of detoxifying your body, even now. It’s my understanding that using the SND ability requires a good deal of energy, which used to be provided to you by mako. You won’t have access to mako as freely as you used to, and so any Dives you try to take will be highly ineffective.”

“Then this is blackmail.”

“This is the path of least resistance, another concept that I don’t believe you’re familiar with. Weiss, you have no disadvantage here. Why are you fighting this?”

I open my mouth to lash back, but immediately close it again. I have nothing. I don’t like this man being right; he seems like he’s right too much. But then again, I’m right too much. He’s exactly like me, and I think that’s exactly what I don’t like about him. Rufus Shinra is everything that I am. I get the feeling that Rufus Shinra would never work for another man to save his brother, if he ever had a brother.

I take a deep breath and go back into the topic. “I don’t have a reason to fight this.”

“So you _will_ join us?”

“Until I find Nero, I will join you.”

“Perfect,” Rufus stands up, which means that I stand up too. He extends his hand. I have no idea what he wants; do I pull him over the desk to my side? After a few seconds, he takes it back, nodding. “I’ll have a room prepared for you. Would a window overwhelm you?”

I scowl. I _have_ been above ground before, just not often or recently. “No, it wouldn’t.”

“Excellent. You should get some rest then. When you wake up, we’ll start.”


End file.
